The role of women during the civil war

The role of women during the nineteenth century was supposed to be that of
submissive mothers, daughters, wives and girlfriends. They were supposed to uphold
the moral values of the nation and to behave in a virtuous manner. Their primary role
was to take care of their families and houses rather than to engage in public issues.
Women were educated to obey the male figure in charge of the house; for example
their fathers or their husbands. The ones belonging to the upper classes were a good
example of this way of living, but for those belonging to the lower classes this was a bit
different. Most of these women had to help their families, not only by doing the
housekeeping, but also, sometimes, by having jobs outside their homes (Blanton,
2010). This means that even though women were believed to be fragile, subordinate
and passive, their role during the American Civil War proved that this was very
different.

1
 Women soldiers of the Civil War

It is commonly believed that during the Civil War men were the only ones that
marched off to war, engaged in heinous battle and died heroically. Women could only
be nurses, spies, vivandieres1, suttlers2 or brave ladies that maintained the home front
in the absence of their men (Blanton, 2010). This assumption is not correct because
American women had true feelings for their country and for this reason, they engaged
in the bloodiest war that Americans fought.
As Blanton states “both armies forbade the enlistment of women”, because they
believed that women should stay at home, taking care of their families and obeying
their duties. Without paying attention to this prohibition, “hundreds of women assumed
men identities, put on uniforms and went into battle”. (Blanton, 2010) The reasons why
they did this were very different. Some women wanted to be with their husbands,
others wanted to earn some money, and for the rest, patriotism was what mobilized
them (Blanton, 2010).
The American society was influenced by three major codes of conduct related
with how a woman should behave: “the cult of true womanhood”, “the doctrine of
separate spheres” and “the canon of domesticity”. The first code defined the middle
class woman as pious, pure, domestic and submissive (Welter, 1966). The second
code glorified a woman’s role as mother and wife (USLegal, 2010); while the last one,
believed that the natural places for women were their homes and families (Baker,
1984). The society was also against these ladies because they rejected the Victorian
Social Constrains3 and tried to live as men did. As Blanton included in her site, some
Americans believed that “women soldiers were eccentric and their presence isolated”.
Even though textbooks hardly ever said anything related to these women, some writers
have mentioned this topic. This is the case of Bell Willey and Mary Massey. The first
writer, Willey (1951, 337, 339) refers to them as “freaks and distinct types”; and
Massey (1994, 84) erroneously asserted that “probably most of them were prostitutes
or concubines”. What is more, the US Army in 1909 informed that “no official record
has been found showing that any woman was ever enlisted in the military service of the

1
A French army term applied to women who provided food, provisions and liqueurs to soldiers.

2
Peddlers who sold goods to military units in the field.

3
Turing the Victorian Era, women were believed to be lower class citizens, not worthy of voting or owning
property, or any Lumber of “inalienable rights”. Rights that you can not surrender, sell or transfer, because
they are a gist from the creator to the individual and can not under any circumstance be surrendered or
taken. (Black’s Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, page 1523)

2
United States (…)” (Documents 158003). This confirms the idea that women were not
supposed to fight in the war; that they should stay at home taking care of their families.

Exemplar women

The number of women that fought during the Civil War did not affect its
outcome, but this was the first time that women got involved in public affairs. They left
aside their society’s believes and marched off to war.
There are a lot of kinds of these ladies (Blanton, 2010); who were not only white
but also slave women. This is the case of Cathay Williams, who worked as a house-girl
until the Union Soldiers liberated her. She enlisted on November 15 th, 1866 and
remained there until October 4th, 1868. (Wilson, 2010)
Most of the ladies who fought during the civil war did it dressed as men
because if not, they would not have been able to participate in it. Not all of these
women served the entire war as Albert D. J. Cashier did. He was able to draw a
pension, and it was not until 1913 that a surgeon discovered that he was a woman
(Blanton, 2010).
Some of these ladies were quickly discovered and only remained in the army
for two weeks after which, they had to go home (Blanton, 2010). While most of them
remained there, after being discovered and discharged, others decided to try it again
and reentered the army. This is the case of Frances Hook (Blanton, 2010), who
enlisted in the war with her brother because both of them were orphans. After her
brother was killed in action, she was captured and imprisoned. Her captors realized
about her real identity and decided to exchange her. She was discharged by the Army,
but as she did not have neither relatives nor a home, she reenlisted as a different man.

Women and medicine

At the outbreak of the war, nursing service was primitive and relied on quite
untrained male nurses. What is more, hospitals were inadequate, antiseptics were
unknown, the relationship between dirt and infection was generally not understood, and
so on.
One of the most important figures to make big contributions in this field is Clara
Barton. During the war time Miss Barton gave the troops bandages and other supplies;
she also helped them to prepare food and bring water; and the most important thing
she did was to assist the surgeons. By doing this, women entered in the field of
medicine, which until those days had belonged only to men. Another major contribution

3
made by Miss Barton was the settlement of the Red Cross4 in the United States to
provide aid for natural disasters (Wilson, 2010).
All of Miss Barton actions were real proofs that she, as a woman, was not frail,
subordinate or passive. She, like the women soldiers, fought for what she believed was
the correct thing to do; that is to say, she gave her live serving her country.

4
Created in 1864, it was chartered to provide human services to all victims Turing wartime under a flag
of neutrality.

4
 Conclusion

In this paper I included examples and information to support the hypothesis set
at the beginning; that the American Society characterization of women during the Civil
War as submissive, frail, subordinate and passive was wrong.
Women proved to be courageous soldiers; what is more, they fought as if they
were men, overcoming their physical needs. With their actions they proved that they
were brave, intelligent, active, and that they had true feelings towards the nation where
they lived (Blanton, 2010). They were also independent and took their own decisions,
no one imposed their will upon them (Blanton, 2010). They were able to overcome the
period of war and then, go on with their lives.

5
 References

 Baker, Paula. The American Historical Review 1984. Web, 3

October 2010.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1856119

 Blanton, DeAnne. Women Soldiers and nurses of the American

Civil War. Web, 3 June 2010 http://americancivilwar.com/women/

 Captain Wilson, Barbara A. Clara Barton, 1821 – 1912, Civil

War Nurse, Founder American Red Woman were there. Web, 8 June 2010
http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets2.html

 Cross. Web, 3 June 2010

http://americancivilwar.com/woman/cb.html

 Documents numbered 158003. Records and Pension Office file

184934, RG94, NA

 Massey, Mary Elizabeth; Berlin, Jean V. Women in the civil

War. University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Page 371

 USLegal.com. Web, 3 October 2010

http://definitions.uslegal.com/d/doctrine-of-separate-spheres/

 Welter, Barbara. The Cult of true womanhood: 1820-1860.

(1966) Web, 3 October 2010 http://links.jstor.org/pss/2711179

 Willey, Bell Irvin. The life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of
the Union. Doubleday & Co Inc, 1951. Pages 337, 339.